Thule Apex tilt 4 bike hitch bike rack

I have that exact rack. Yes, you can tip the rack and the tailgate (boot) will open. I will warn you that when fully loaded with 4 bikes (Mountain), it can get rather heavy.

If you have a 2014 or newer (i see you have a 2016), the other thing to take into consideration is the auto open on the tailgate. Thankfully, the "anti-pinch" mechanism is pretty good. I had my boot open once when it was on my 08, but as soon as it hit the rack it stopped. No paint damage to the tailgate (phew). Something to be careful of though.

I wouldn't load 4 CF bikes on there. It's a tight fit for 4 bikes, and there will be a bit of rubbing (not much, but it will happen). When I carry my CF road bike, it's never with 4 bikes. You will find yourself arranging pedals and handlebars to make 4 bikes fit on it. It goes, it works great, but it's tight.

Totally sorry guys. I took a bunch of pictures then forgot to post them. I threw my MTB on the rack and took some pics.

First one shows bike on the APEX 4, mounted all the way on the end. You can see 2 of the other 3 bike mounts out near the end with the bike, and the 4th one way in close to the vehicle.

Second and third pics show the tailgate where it hits the rack when the rack isn't tipped open. The nice thing is it hits the license plate instead of the painted surface of the tailgate. And... it opens slow enough that it doesn't damage it. There is an auto stop mechanism that engages when it meets resistance while opening - similar to the anti-pinch that works while closing.

Fourth pic shows the rack tipped all the way open with the bike on it.

Fifth pic shows the bike mounted closest to the vehicle (where I usually mount it if there is only one bike on).

Hope that helps. The Apex has been great. My only complaint is that every once and a while I trigger the automatic tailgate opener when I am putting it on or taking it off. As I mentioned earlier, the auto stop works pretty well - even when it hits your head.

As for my own situation, I've been thinking about a roof mount too, since 95% of the time I am using it to haul a single bike (my own). But it works awesome for 3 bike and very well for 4. 4 is a tight squeeze, but the mounts work well enough to keep them from rubbing together.